NASCAR Cup Series

RICKY STENHOUSE JR. – No. 17 Fifth Third Bank Ford Fusion – POLE-WINNING INTERVIEW -- “It’ll be nice to lead the field to green here. The Fifth Third guys worked really, really hard on these cars. Like I said earlier, Jimmy Fennig has done a great job on these speedway cars. This is cool. Doug Yates builds awesome horsepower. With his dad, Robert, not doing as well as we would like, it would be cool to dedicate this one to him and all the hard work that the engine shop does. Man, it’s a cool way to start the weekend. I’m ready to get to Sunday.”

Dale Earnhardt Jr. earned a front row starting position for the GEICO 500 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series at Talladega Superspeedway with a second-place qualifying effort in the No. 88 Nationwide Chevrolet SS. Earnhardt Jr. navigated the 2.66-mile track with a final round lap of 190.780 mph.

TALLADEGA, Ala. -- Ricky Stenhouse Jr. will lead the field to the green flag on Sunday after winning the pole for the GEICO 500 at Talladega Superspeedway.

DALE EARNHARDT, JR., NO. 88 NATIONWIDE CHEVROLET SS – Qualified 2nd - NOT QUITE ENOUGH, BUT PRETTY GOOD SPEED FOR YOU IN THIS QUALIFYING SESSION: “Yeah, I’m pretty happy. Great lap by (Ricky) Stenhouse and the Roush guys they did a really good job today. Thrilled with our car, good speed and it would have been nice to get a pole. Probably could have sat down and talked to Rick (Hendrick) about running the Clash or something, but let’s see if we can’t try to get another one later on this year.”

TALLADEGA, Ala. -- Chase Elliott is on track to best his stellar rookie campaign from last season at the one-quarter mark of the season.

Sunday’s GEICO 500 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race at Talladega Superspeedway will be an emotional one for Dale Earnhardt Jr. and his loyal race fans.

Before traveling to Talladega Superspeedway this weekend, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., driver of the No. 17 Fifth Third Ford, and members of his team helped pack 1,300 backpacks for hungry kids at Second Harvest Food Bank Metrolina.

ON RAISING MONEY FOR THE NATIONWIDE CHILDREN’S HOSPITAL BY SELLING SPACES TO FANS S THEY CAN HAVE THEIR NAMES ON THE NO. 88 CHEVY SS FOR THE RACE AT KENTUCKY SPEEDWAY: “Yeah, Nationwide put together a real cool program for the car we are going to race in Kentucky where they sold the hood off to the race fans to put their name on it and sold it out in 24 hours, so they found room for more names and sold that out in another 24 hours and raised $81,000 really quick."

TALLADEGA, Ala. -- Clint Bowyer topped the chart in first Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series practice at Talladega Superspeedway.

Kurt Busch, driver of the No. 41 Haas Automation/Monster Energy Ford Fusion, held a Q&A session with the media prior to Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series practice at Talladega Superspeedway.